


tell me you'll be sweet

by t_hens



Series: reddie [15]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Body Worship, First Time, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Canon, Rimming, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, richie getting the lovin' he deserves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:01:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23633533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_hens/pseuds/t_hens
Summary: Richie's always known that he wasn't anything special or particularity good looking, so when he and Eddie finally are reunited and get together, Eddie makes it his mission to show Richie how wrong he is, and how loved he actually is.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: reddie [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1534337
Comments: 7
Kudos: 160





	tell me you'll be sweet

Richie knew from a young age that he wasn’t what people considered ‘attractive.’

He could remember (post-clown memory mindfuck) being a kid on the playground, five or six years old, and Betty Jefferson telling Angie Davis not to play tether ball with him on the playground because he was gross and would give her cooties.

All throughout middle school and high school it was more of the same. Thick coke-bottle glasses, acne and a foul-mouthed sense of humor didn’t really do him many favors in the first place, but neither did his too long limbs and greasy hair, or the braces his father practically had to sit on his chest to put on him.

So, yeah. He knew he wasn’t good looking or anything desirable. He knew when he was young, and even when he didn’t remember all the shit that happened between thirteen and forty, he remembered the bone deep contempt he felt for himself that no amount of whiskey, cigarettes, cheap coke or clumsy hook ups in sleazy clubs couldn’t make him forget.

Seeing all his old friends again, friends that all got _extremely_ and _unfairly_ hot in the years they’d been without each other, made all his wounds feel more open and exposed than ever before. Being a teen, he would cover up his insecurities with loud words and bad jokes, so that’s what he did that night. He drank and drank and poked and prodded just so none of them would look too close at him and wonder why they put up with him in the first place.

-

After everything - saving Stan and getting caught in the Deadlights and Eddie rescuing him, and Richie rescuing him in turn and finally being rid of that mother fucking clown - they’d all gathered at the Inn for showers and some much needed rest. 

Eddie had barged straight into Richie’s room as he was getting ready to fall into bed, grabbing him by the shoulders and pressing their lips together so hard Richie was sure he was probably gonna have a busted lip. He pressed back though, because there was no fucking way he was gonna do or say anything to remind Eddie what he was doing, and who he was doing it with, because then surely he would stop and Richie would never get another moment like this back. And that wasn’t really fair for that pathetic and skinny thirteen year old part of him that had spent the entire summer of ‘89 trying to hide inconvenient boners every time Eddie was even _near_ him.

-

They had slept in the same bed that night, after the kiss had broken and Eddie had mumbled, face flushed adorably, that he couldn’t do anything because he was still married and that wasn’t okay, which was much more than Richie could have even dreamed up, happy just to have Eddie close to him in any sort of circumstance.

He had expected in the morning for Eddie to act weird and distant and leave for New York to go back to his job and wife and life, but instead he made several phone calls, voice just as fast and bossy as Richie remembered, but now with a tinge of Manhattan added. Several minutes later he was handing Mike the keys to Richie’s rental and instructing him to drop it off at the airport when he flew out to Florida, or wherever it was that he planned to go next, leaving Richie to be led by his hand to Eddie’s rental, doing what Eddie instructed and putting his luggage in the back.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on, or is this like the least resisted kidnapping in history?” Richie asked, putting on his seat belt before Eddie could yell at him about it.

“Okay, first off,” Eddie started, taking his hands away from the wheel and making a cutting motion onto his palm, “it’s not kidnapping if you _voluntarily_ get into the vehicle. And second of all -” He returned his hands to the wheel before Richie could get too nervous. “We’re going to the airport, where else would we be going? Do you think I plan on driving all the way to LA?”

Richie didn’t respond at all, too dumbfounded to respond for once in his life. Eddie must have taken his silence the wrong way because a few seconds later his cheeks were flushing and his speech was veering on hysterical.

“I - maybe I shouldn’t have like, just assumed? I guess we didn’t really talk about it. I just thought that like, things were mutual, between us. Cause you know, when we were kids I really liked you and I thought that you liked me too and last night you kissed me back and -”

Richie reached over and placed a hand on his knee, not wanting to send the wrong message or distract him from driving. “No, Eds, it is _definitely_ mutual, I just.” He stopped not sure how to continue.

“Hey,” Eddie said softly, hand covering Richie’s and squeezing gently, eyes leaving the road to look into his for a second. “I know this is new and kinda weird but we can figure it out right? Together?”

He could feel tears pricking at his eyes so just nodded and looked back at the road, hand still holding Eddie’s. “Yeah, together.”

-

Like all things in life, it took time for things to start to feel normal.

They had flown into New York for a few days so Eddie could sort things out with Myra and his job, spending most of his days either out in meetings, or in their hotel room on his phone or laptop, in meetings. Richie mostly laid around, texting Steve about possibly starting to write his own material again and making out with Eddie whenever he had a few extra minutes.

When they got to LA, Eddie had immediately taken over, rearranging and cleaning the entire place with a ferocity Richie had only ever seen him have when he was trying to beat Richie at a video game, even though they both knew he was kind of crap at them.

-

It was almost two months into living together before they had sex. 

Granted, Eddie had gotten better about germs and messes, especially since starting therapy, but forty years is a long time to have the message that who you are and what you like is dirty and Richie understood all too well about the hang ups that could occur around sex.

They had eased into it, just kissing and petting lightly, then Eddie had let Richie jerk him off in the shower, and slowly and surely they had built it up to the actual thing.

Richie had offered to bottom since it wasn’t his first time and he figured Eddie would be nervous and not want to deal with the mess, but Eddie had made a face and said that he would be on bottom. Instead of taking this as good news, all Richie’s brain could think of was the face Eddie made, as if the idea of touching Richie _there_ made him want to cringe.

He didn’t say anything about it after that, just helped Eddie prep and when he was ready, started to slide in. It took a few tries, because despite this being a literal dream of his, his mind would not let him enjoy it and kept reminding him of how gross and dirty he was, making his dick start to flag before he could push in.

“Are you okay?” Eddie had asked, after the third or fourth time that Richie had to try and jerk himself back to hardness. “Is it me?” he followed the question with, so quietly that it was almost missed. 

Richie looked at him and took in the flush of his cheeks, the sheen of his eyes and the way his lip was caught in his teeth in worry, and felt a sob build in his chest. Before he could stop himself he was moving away from Eddie and shoving himself face first into the pillows, crying harder than he could ever remember doing so.

“Fuck, Rich. What’s going on. Are you okay?” When it was only met with more sobbing, he felt the bed dip as Eddie moved closer. “God, please talk to me.” 

Distantly Richie could feel his hands, gentle and tentative as they touched him to try and calm him but it just made him cry harder.

“Fuck, sorry,” he said after a few minutes, tears still falling, but his breath had started to calm. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Eddie said softly, wiping the tears from his face and running his fingers through his wild curls to try and get them out of his face. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

He took a few seconds before he answered, doing his best to actually give the question some thought and took a shuddering breath before shaking his head. 

“I mean no, but I guess I probably should.”

“You don’t have to.” Eddie rearranged them until they were laying tangled together with Richie’s head laying on his chest.

“I know.” He took a deep breath and hugged Eddie closer. He didn’t know how to say ‘you didn’t want to fuck me and that reminded me of what a gross piece of shit I am’ without making Eddie feel like any of it was his fault, so he just shrugged his shoulders best he could. “I just don’t know why you wanna have sex with me.”

Eddie was silent for what was only probably a few seconds, but it felt like years by the time he started speaking, moving so Richie had to sit up and look at him.

“Richie, are you serious?”

He looked away, as though the closet full of their combined shirts was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen, but Eddie gently coaxed his attention back to him. “Richie, I want to have sex with you because I love you.”

It wasn’t the first time they’d said it but no matter how many times he’d heard it, it was still the best thing Richie had ever heard, even if he sometimes wondered why. 

“No, I know you do, it’s just tha-”

Eddie cut him off, hand over his mouth, his brown eyes flashing with determination. “It’s just that, nothing. I _love_ you, okay you moron. I’ve loved you my whole fucking life. You’re my best friend, you’re funny when you’re not talking about my dead mother. You’re smart as hell even though you like to act like you’re not. You have a kind and generous heart and you’re just so fucking _good_ , Rich.” 

He paused, letting his eyes rake over Richie’s body hungrily enough that his soft cock gave an interested twitch. “You’re fucking hot as hell.”

A blush was working it’s way up his chest to the tips of his ears and tried to protest, but Eddie simply moved to straddle him, keeping his hand over Richie’s mouth.

“You’re so tall and broad, God your fucking _shoulders_.” He lifted his hand slowly, raising an eyebrow in question, or in challenge, Richie wasn’t entirely sure but he kept quiet as Eddie moved his hands to brush up his biceps and over his shoulders. “I love how big you are, how you could just throw me around if you wanted.”

Richie huffed a laugh at that, the idea of picking Eddie up and throwing him around both hilarious and hot. 

Eddie smiled, pleased to see that he was calming down. He ran his fingers through Richie’s hair and gave it a light tug, making him have to tilt his head to look Eddie right in the eyes.

“I love your wild and crazy hair. I like when it’s all done and slicked back from something important, but it’s my favorite when it’s all crazy and wild cause we were just fooling around.” 

They shared a giggle and Richie nuzzled his face into Eddie’s neck, letting his soft touches and words soak into him, trying to absorb as much as he could. 

“You have the prettiest eyes, and I even like your glasses,” he tapped the frames pressed against their bodies, “I jerked off so many times when you first got these frames that I thought I gave myself carpal tunnel.”

With a delight snort Richie leaned back and kissed Eddie, holding him close and trying to pour his thanks into his kiss. It was reciprocated enthusiastically and just like that, their plans from earlier in the evening were resumed.

\- one year later - 

All in all, it was probably one of the best years of Richie’s life, bar none.

With Eddie’s help, and the help of a therapist and some heavy duty anti depressants, Richie was on his way to dealing with some of his demons. Granted, he still had a ways to go, because a lifetime of problems and toxic ways of thinking didn’t just go away overnight, but things were getting better.

Richie could walk around in only his boxers and not feel self conscious. He (mostly) believed Eddie when he told him that he looked good in an outfit, or that he looked especially handsome on a certain day. He stopped using self deprecation as the basis of his material; now it was more of a side dish than an entree. 

So, yes, things were going well, personally, professionally and romantically. Even sexually.

Since their first time, Richie had been more and more forthcoming with his insecurities, which in turn, seemed to make Eddie feel like it was his mission in life to make Richie know that he loved those parts about him. As Eddie became more comfortable with sex in general, he began asking for different things, both for him and for Richie. 

He’d spent one entire Sunday afternoon licking and sucking marks into every tiny dip and cranny on Richie’s body, telling him with a soft and reverent voice how much he loved each and every part. By the time he’d slide two fingers inside of him, Richie was so close it only took a few pumps of Eddie’s fingers before he was coming his brains out and sobbing, which Eddie was mostly used to by now.

-

Still though, Eddie had the ability to surprise him. 

Richie had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, head filled with dark clouds and a sour mood. Eddie had made him a cup of coffee and kept mostly quiet, letting Richie take the lead on days like this, since no two days were exactly the same. They had both learned how to handle each other’s bad days, just how they had when they were young, always the other’s silent support.

He wandered around the house, trying to find something to hold his attention and gave up, finally deciding to get up and take a shower, not because he needed to go anywhere, but because he knew that going about his normal schedule was one of the key elements of not backsliding. 

It was only a few minutes between getting under the stream of water and the bathroom door opening. He wiped the water out of his eyes to pop his head out to give Eddie a confused look. 

“What’s up Eds? I thought you were gonna go for a run?”

Eddie shook his head, shedding his sleep shirt and shorts, pushing Richie out of the way so he could climb in beside him. 

“This okay?” He asked before pressing closer. 

Richie swallowed thickly, nodding. Eddie pressed his body, still warm with sleep against Richie’s and kissed him languidly like there was no place in the world he’d rather be. Both of them were getting hard and he was reaching down to hold on to both of them, but Eddie batted his hand away, shaking his head. 

“No,” he said in response to Richie’s confused look. “Wanna do something special for you.”

A shudder ran through him and he was unable to hide it, but Eddie smirked and jerked Richie a few times before turning him around so his stomach was pressed against the tile wall.

“Sorry to break it to you Eds, but I don’t really think you’re tall enough to fuck me like this,” he tried to joke, though it didn’t really translate as his voice was too breathy to hold any humor.

“I know. I’m not going to fuck you…. like _that_.”

Richie’s mind raced, trying to think of what Eddie could be planning, knowing it couldn’t be anything too extreme, nothing that would push either of their boundaries, but he trusted Eddie so he tried to calm his breathing and relax.

After a second of Eddie rifling around in the shower caddy and a pop of a bottle cap, there was the slick feel of lube on Richie’s rim, then the sweet pressure of a finger slipping inside that made him moan wantonly. 

“Fuck,” he sighed, hips already pressing back but Eddie put his other hand on his hip to steady him.

“Hey, steady there cowboy, there’s no rush.”

Richie snorted but before he had a chance to reply, Eddie was crooking his finger so it brushed against his prostate, effectively ending his thought process.

-

Just when Richie thought that this was the end game and had started to relax into it, Eddie was removing his finger. There wasn’t an opportunity to question his next move though, because there was the sound of knees hitting the tiles and then Richie’s cheeks were being spread and Eddie’s hot tongue was laving over his rim.

“Eddie! Oh _fuck_ ,” he panted, hand beating against the wall. “Wah? Why?”

“You taste so good, Rich,” Eddie interrupted him, pulling away just to dive back in immediately. Richie could only whine in response, knees already in danger of giving out. 

Rimming was one of the last things they’d done, but until then it had only been Richie giving, which hadn’t been a problem at all. Eddie had surprisingly loved it and he was more than happy to oblige, but he’d never asked for it for himself. He’d started to accept that Eddie found him attractive and wanted to have sex with him, but this was a whole different ballpark.

“You don’t have to,” he said weakly, both wanting Eddie to listen, and wanting him to continue.

“I know I don’t have to,” he said as he pulled back again, slipping a finger back in while he pressed kisses to Richie’s lower back. “I want to. I want you to know how good you are. How amazing you taste and feel under my tongue.” He licked around his finger as if to demonstrate and Richie let his head _thunk_ against the wall.

“I love you,” was all he could say. He was overwhelmed with emotions and was so close to coming his cock was almost purple. 

Eddie didn’t respond verbally, but he dipped his tongue back in and paired it with a few well timed tugs of Richie’s cock and he was painting their shower wall with his come.

-

His orgasm felt like it lasted forever, pouring out of him until he was just a husk of his former self. With his knees still shaking, he turned and helped Eddie to his feet, pulling him close and stroking his cock and whispering his thanks into his ear.

When they were clean and after they had both brushed their teeth, Eddie pulled Richie back into bed and adjusted them so Richie was the little spoon and Eddie was wrapped around his body like a vine. It was comforting and familiar and helped ease the sting that being vulnerable always felt him with.

“That was amazing,” he said after a while, voice growing gruff with fatigue. It wasn’t even eleven yet and he was already ready to take a nap.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Eddie whispered back, kissing along his neck and along his jaw. “And before you start feeling guilty or something, I did that because I wanted to. I liked it and would do it again a million times over.”

Richie could feel his face flushing, but he didn’t try and argue, which was maybe a first for their relationship. “I love you,” he told him again, for lack of a more articulate way to explain his feelings.

“I love you too. Now let's take a nap and then you’re gonna make me that fancy pasta I like for lunch.” Eddie said matter of factly, pulling Richie closer.

“Fancy? You know it’s literally just butter, garlic and some parm right? Like even Bill could make that-”

Eddie dug his fingers into Richie’s ribs, leaving him breathless and giggling, wondering for the millionth time how he got so lucky, but for once, not questioning it, just appreciating how lucky he was.

**Author's Note:**

> endless thanks to Moody for fixing my typos and helping me keep my sanity <3 ty ly bb


End file.
